A huge Cork support is expected for Sunday's All-Ireland SHC semi-final against Limerick.
By John Harrington
‘Corkness’ is on the rise again, and Rebels hurling manager John Meyler is keen to harness it.
If you’re unfamiliar with exactly what ‘Corkness’ is, it’s possibly best described as a confident self-regard native to the people of Cork.
The sort of chutzpah to loudly proclaim their county as the ‘Real Capital', and the self-assurance to declare that Murphy’s is a superior stout to Guinness and Barry’s a much finer blend of tea than Lyons.
They’ll even try to convince you that Jazz is the ultimate musical genre if you give them half a chance.
Most of all though, ‘Corkness’ as a phenomenon has traditionally been associated with the county’s love of hurling, and, more specifically, their love of winning at hurling.
A Cork hurling team playing with flair and triumphing in front of a heaving, singing terrace of red that expected nothing less than this result is the ultimate expression of ‘Corkness’.
It’s also one we haven’t seen with anything like the regularity we once did because Cork have failed to win an All-Ireland Senior Hurling title since 2005.
But with two Munster Senior Hurling titles now put back to back there’s a definite upsurge of 'Corkness' down south and Meyler believes it can help drive his team to victory over Limerick in Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final.
“Yeah, when you see in Thurles (in the Munster Final) and Cork were coming in the middle of the second half and went ahead against Clare and you hear the Rebels, Rebels, Rebels.
“These guys understand that and then when they see the red stands up and that’s what I want to see in Croke Park next Sunday, I want to see red everywhere and that’s where you get Cork people with the fire and the passion and that exudes onto the pitch and that comes on to the players and the players respond,” said Meyler.
“I think the players have responded to that emotion, enthusiasm that comes from the Cork public. That’s that ‘Corkness’ that comes out, that we are Cork.”
Perhaps it was the self-confidence associated with ‘Corkness’ that saw Cork become complacent and fall off the pace set by other counties in recent years.
The presumption that top-quality Cork hurlers would simply continue to appear overnight ‘like mushrooms’ with little encouragement was proven naïve in an era when coaching and games development is king.
Now, though, things are looking a lot healthier from top to bottom.
Cork senior hurling team manager, John Meyler.
Revamped underage structures are producing bountiful crops of talented young hurlers, and the senior county team has captured the imagination of supporters who have been only too happy to rediscover their inner ‘Corkness’.
“That ‘Corkness’ was there in the 70s and the 80s and the 90s, where Cork were in All-Ireland finals, even at the start of 2003, ‘04, ‘05, ‘06, it was there,” said Meyler.
“We haven’t been winning minors. We won the U17 last year. There’s a lot of good underage players coming through, so there’s young talent coming through.
“But what it needs is for the senior team to copper-fasten that by winning an All-Ireland senior to bring these guys through and to keep them coming through like (Darragh) Fitzgibbon, (Mark) Coleman, (Shane) Kingston, Robbie O’Flynn, (Sean) O’Donoghue, Darren Browne - those guys have come through, maybe not through winning minors but through by being brought into the senior team at 18 and develop within it.
“But it’s much easier to bring in a fella that has won a minor, U21All-Ireland because he knows the ropes then.”
Meyler might be a Wexford man, but he’s been living long enough in Rebel-land to have picked up a bit of Corkness himself.
He’s not interested in second-best. He demands and expects success from himself and others.
“I just want to win,” said Meyler. “Any expectation whether what team I’m involved in, I want to win.
“Whether it’s a game of pool or a game of ludo or whatever, I like to win. Cork is a demanding place and Cork public is very supportive of teams that win.
“They’ve very supportive of hurling, soccer, football, rugby, whatever sport Cork people are excelling in, the Cork public will support them.
“They want to see Cork winning All-Irelands, Cork has been built on that down through the years.
“We’ve missed that since 2005, so we need to get back there to the top table again, winning minor, U21, senior All-Irelands.”
The Rebels are on the march, and there’s an unmistakable vibe of ‘Corkness’ in the air.
